[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

April 28



TEXAS----stay of impending execution

Texas calls off Robert Pruett execution with just hours to spare



The planned execution of Robert Pruett has been stayed to allow for more 
testing of evidence, about 3 hours before the Texas prisoner was scheduled to 
be given a lethal injection for the murder of a guard in 1999.

Pruett, 35, was convicted in 2002 of killing of Daniel Nagle, a 37-year-old 
corrections officer who was stabbed to death in his office at a prison near 
Corpus Christi.

The prosecution argued that Pruett murdered Nagle in retaliation for being 
punished for eating a packed lunch in an unauthorised area. The disciplinary 
report was found torn up by the guard's body.

Blood on the report was tested for DNA, which was found to have come from 
Nagle. More DNA testing was conducted in 2013, and the results were 
inconclusive.

Pruett's attorneys argued that the evidence had been damaged by being 
improperly stored but future, more advanced DNA testing techniques might reveal 
more details that would allow him to prove his innocence and potentially 
identify the true perpetrator.

On Tuesday afternoon a judge agreed to halt the execution, scheduled for 6pm 
local time, to allow for more DNA testing of evidence.

David Dow, Pruett's attorney, said that Bert Richardson, who is now on the 
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals but has previously issued rulings on the case 
as a district judge, withdrew the trial date to allow for more testing of 
evidence including the murder weapon - a sharpened metal shank with a piece of 
tape used as a handle - using currently available technology.

Pruett claimed that he had been framed by people worried that Nagle was about 
to expose corruption in the facility. There was no physical evidence linking 
him to the crime and the prosecution???s case was based mainly on testimony 
from other inmates, some of whom were given favourable treatment as a result.

Pruett has come close to death several times before only for stays to be 
granted. At the time of the killing he was serving a 99-year sentence for being 
an accomplice, aged 15, in a murder carried out by his father.

An appeal was rejected by the federal 5th circuit court last Friday, but Pruett 
had several appeals pending, including at the US supreme court.

(source: The Guardian)








FLORIDA:

Mentally Ill Florida Man Taken Off Death Row



A mentally ill man on death row for killing the policeman who tried to search 
his shopping cart should not be executed, the Florida Supreme Court ruled.

The Aug. 19, 2009, altercation occurred as Humberto Delgado Jr. pushed a 
shopping cart full of some belongings to a veterans' hospital in Tampa where he 
hoped to find shelter.

Delgado, who used a cane because of chronic knee pain, had walked 15 miles over 
8 hours in the rain when Cpl. Michael Roberts of the Tampa Police Department 
saw him at 9:58 p.m. in an area known for shopping-cart theft.

Though Delgado showed his driver's license and a veteran identification card, 
the officer began searching his shopping cart and the backpack within.

Worried that Roberts would find the four firearms inside that backpack, Delgado 
tried to run away. Roberts used his Taser, a fistfight broke out, and Delagado 
shot and killed Roberts. Delgado called his uncle and asked for forgiveness and 
talked about killing himself because he had shot a police officer.

A K-9 unit ultimately apprehended Delgado hiding in a woodpile, and a jury that 
heard evidence of Delgado's history mental illness convicted him and sentenced 
him to death.

Born in the Virgin Islands, Delgado's first job had been as a police officer 
but his "cycle of extreme paranoia and abnormal behavior" worsened after he 
refused an invitation to join the Masons, the Florida Supreme Court said.

Believing that the Masons were conspiring to kill him, Delgado split up with 
his wife, left the police force, and began wandering the streets saying that 
the rapper 50 Cent was trying to kill him.

Fearing that people were following him, Delgado tried to keep his children out 
of school, and forced them to sleep on the floor or lie down while riding in 
vehicles in case people were looking through the windows.

Delgado would also tell family members that there were demons outside who 
wanted his sons' "special blood" or that his children's legs were goat legs and 
he had to cut them off because the legs were "evil."

He was hospitalized several times over the years, during which time he also 
joined the military. It was while hospitalized at Womack Army Medical Center in 
Fort Bragg when doctors diagnosed him with "Bipolar I Disorder with psychotic 
features," according to the ruling. In that same stay, Delgado tested negative 
for any type of drug or alcohol intoxication.

1 expert at Delgado's trial opined that delusional thinking would always be 
present, but that Delgado's medication at that time controlled the intensity of 
his feelings and his reaction to them. Three experts testified that Delgado's 
illness could be properly managed in a structured, controlled environment.

The high court was unanimous Friday in finding that enough evidence supports 
Delgado's 1st-degree murder conviction, but that the punishment was 
disproportionate.

"This evidence leads to the conclusion that this is not one of the most 
aggravated and least mitigated of capital murders," the unsigned opinion 
states. "Thus, we find the death penalty disproportionate under the facts and 
circumstances presented here."

Citing Delgado's long-standing mental illness characterized by impulsivity, 
which was out of his control, the court found that the defendant lacked the 
capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.

"We do not downplay the fact that Corporal Roberts lost his life as a result of 
Delgado's actions; however, for the reasons expressed above, we are compelled 
to reduce Delgado's sentence to life imprisonment because death is not a 
proportionate penalty when compared to other cases," the justices wrote. 
"Accordingly, we affirm Delgado's convictions but reverse his sentence of death 
and remand to the trial court with directions to impose a life sentence."

(source: Courthouse News Service)